WSOP Event #39: Final Three Tables Set
In a long second day, the big stacks didn't hold back and exchanged blows until the very end. While there were some enormous pots, the lead remains in contention as the final 26 players will return for the last day.
With only 327 starters returning for the second day of this $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Event and 270 players making it in the money, it would only be a matter of time until the bubble was reached. As it approached, the play notably slowed down, while some big stacks were tearing up their tables by abusing the bubble factor.
The bubble boys were finally found when two participants busted during hand-for-hand play. First, Dennis Sargent moved all-in with a mere 100 remaining chips and lost with his caught pair of deuces against Tristan Wade who made a pair of jacks. Tom West was less lucky when his 
lost out to someone's 
on the 
board.
As soon as the money bubble had burst, the short stacks started pushing their stacks in like there was no tomorrow. In one of the crazier pots, we had four-way all-in action pre-flop, with 99, TT, JJ and AT going at it. The flop came 
and pretty much sealed the deal for the player with pocket jacks.
Al Barbieri was one of the earlier victims in the money, too. He was involved in a pot with Jan Von Halle where the flop came down 
- he bet out with his 
for a set and was promptly called. On the 
turn, he bet again and while Von Halle looked like he wanted to make a move, he finally decided to just call again. Barbieri kept up the pressure as he pushed all-in on the 
river, but Von Halle snap-called with 
for the rivered nuts, sending Barbieri to the rails.
Things were going better for Shawn Glines who managed to jump into the chip lead in a matter of two hands. First, he managed to runner-runner a straight, bringing him up to 216,000, then he called a raise with his 
just to flop a set on the 
.
It's not enough to get a good flop if you're not paid off, though, so the small blind stepped in to help out. After calling the flop, he raised all-in on the 
turn just to see himself drawing very thin with his against Glines' full house. The river blanked and Glines could stack up 340,000 in chips.
An unlucky Tracey Nguyen had to swallow a bitter setup when she ran her KK into AA - no help on the board and another big name had to leave the tournament area. All the while, Shawn Glines extended his lead as he took down Chandrasekhar Billavara - his KK easily held against the 66 after flopping a superfluous set. Cards didn't hold for everyone, though, as Darryll Fish had to take his leave with 
against Raymond Davis' 
when the board unfolded 
.
Jan Von Halle would also become a victim of the aggressive pre-flop play after the bubble. In spite of a series of pre-flop raises, he pushed all-in 
and was in bad shape against . The board ran out dry and he was crippled. Just a few hands later, he could be found on the other side of the rails.
With more and more players going to the rails, the time had come for a new chip leader, too. In a first notable hand, Brandon Cantu eliminated Mark Newhouse after calling his pre-flop all-in. Newhouse was in bad shape with 88 against QQ and couldn't improve.
In the following hand he called another pre-flop shove, this time from Mimi Tran. He was in good shape again, with AK versus AT and when the board ran out dry, he took over the chip lead with about 485,000 in chips while sending Tran home early.
Two more players made their way into the top of the chip counts. One of them was Conrad Monica as she got it all-in against Napoleon Ta. Their cards were a perfect match with Monica's facing off againts Ta's 
. Ta was however eliminated in a very ugly fashion when the board ran down , giving Monica the one-card flush and a good 425,000 in chips.
The second notable player to chip up was Nam Le, who had been grinding it out for most of the tournament. When a short stack shoved for 78,000 and found one caller, it was a perfect spot for Le to push with his 
for a total of 120,000. The initial caller couldn't get out and Le was looking good against and . Both of his opponents failed to catch the necessary cards and he was able to almost triple to a comfortable 330,000.
As the end of a day approaches, you will usually see the bigger stacks take it easy - this wasn't the case in this tournament, though. In a crazy three-way all-in, Shawn Glines was close to taking back his chip lead, getting it in with 
against Zach Gilbert's QQ - and Chairud Vangchailued who was in serious trouble with his .
With one out for Gilbert and only straight and flush possibilities for Vangchailued, Glines was sick to the stomach when the board came down 
to give Vangchailued the miracle flush. With only 150,000 left, he had to watch Vangchailued walk away with 700,000 in chips.
Brandon Cantu was also trying to further increase his stack and moved all-in to Mary Jones bet on the AQ2 flop. Although she looked in bad shape after making the call with AT against Cantu's A2 for two-pair, the T turn and a blank on the river gave her the better two-pair and put Cantu down to a mere 160,000 in remaining chips. On the bright side of the bad beat, Jones could boost her stack to a serious 645,000.
It looked even better for Mary Jones when she busted another player who moved all-in to her pre-flop raise. She made a good call with versus 
and was able to move up to 860,000 in chips.
In the end, Michele Iacovone was the first to break the million chip mark. After calling a pre-flop raise from Kwan Leung, she also made a quick call when the latter pushed all-in on the 
flop. She was comfortably ahead against Leung's who had completely missed the flop and her held up to increase her stack to a nice 1.2 million in chips.
Tournament fate can however turn around fast, as demonstrated by Mary Jones who was eliminated in a matter of just two hands. In the first one, the chips all went in on the 
flop and she was just slightly ahead with her 
against Ray Foley's .
While the turn blanked with the 
, the river completed Foley's flush and boosted him to 1.1 million chips. Coincidently, Jones' final hand looked almost the same as she got her remaining 150,000 in with QQ again - only to see Foley wake up with another AK. The board came K2T52 and put and abrupt end to Mary Jones' tournament life.
Javier Corzo was one of the last players to take their leave before the end of day two. His couldn't catch against Michele Iacovone's and the latter could claim yet another pot to extend her chip lead. There will be a few big stacks trying to snatch that chip lead away from her, though, and we can expect a lot of big action on the final day of this event.
| World Series Of Poker Event #39 Standings |
||
| Rank | Name | Chips |
| 1st | Michele Iacovone | 1,605,200 |
| 2nd | Ray Foley | 1,302,000 |
| 3rd | Joe Bartholdi | 1,040,000 |
| 4th | Steve Banner | 745,000 |
| 5th | Chairud Vangchailued | 707,000 |
| 6th | Wei Mu | 658,000 |
| 7th | Schawn Glines | 510,000 |
| 8th | Nam Le | 500,100 |
| 9th | Mohnis Charanio | 471,000 |
| 10th | Alex Jacob | 433,000 |
Related news:
